After sweeping Wausau, the Lakeshore Chinooks (11-15) traveled to Madison to take on the Mallards (14-12) Monday night at Warner Park in a Great Lakes West divisional matchup. The Chinooks trailed by one run heading into the ninth, but battled back to defeat the Mallards 12-5 in extra innings, and extend the winning streak to three.
The Mallards threatened to take an early lead in this one with runners on second and third, and two outs. However, Jackson Tucker was thrown out trying to steal home, and the game remained scoreless heading into the third.
The first run of game came in the top of the third inning from Chinook infielder Trey Becker on a solo shot to left, his second of the season and at Warner Park.
Madison answered quickly in the bottom half of the frame. A leadoff single and a fielder’s choice put a runner in scoring position with one out. Then, a broken bat single from Issiah Jackson tied the game at 1-1.
With two outs in the inning, Canyon Brown gave the Mallards their first lead of the night on a bloop single to right to make it 2-1 after three innings of play.
Lakeshore had a response of their own in their next at-bat in the top of the fourth. Sam Hojnar walked with one out, and then proceeded to steal second to put himself into scoring position. That would prove to be big for the Chinooks as Hojnar later scored after two wild pitches by the Madison starter to tie the game at 2-2.
In the top of the fifth inning, Drew Townsend was hit by a pitch to extend his on-base streak to thirteen games. That would be the start of a really big day for Townsend.
Lakeshore starter Michael Carpenter was replaced by Zach Slome in the bottom of the sixth inning. Carpenter went 5.0 innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits, and one strikeout.
Slome saw some trouble when the Mallards loaded the bases with one out and the go ahead run at third. Yet, he was able to get out of it with two fly outs to end the inning and keep the game tied.
Drew Townsend would put the Chinooks back in front 3-2 in the top of the seventh with a solo shot to center, his second of the season.
That lead would not last long for Lakeshore as Madison took the lead back an inning later. In the bottom of the eighth, Liam Moreno hit an RBI-single to tie the game, and a costly mistake by the Chinooks allowed the go-ahead run to score on a throwing error, giving Madison a 4-3 lead into the ninth.
Lakeshore got the offense going right away as Sam Hojnar singled, and then Joey Spence doubled to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Following an infield fly out, Drew Townsend hit a sac fly to center to tie the game at 4-4 and send it to extras.
The Chinooks had arguably their best inning of the season in the top of the tenth and what a time for it. Carson Hansen started things off with a two-run home run to left center to put the Chinooks back in front 6-4, his second of the season. A couple errors by the Mallards and a walk quickly loaded the bases for the Chinooks with nobody out.
Sam Hojnar was the designated hitter tonight for Lakeshore and he delivered a grand slam to deep right field to open the game up at 10-4, his first this season.
The home runs kept coming for the Chinooks in the extra frame as Joey Spence followed Hojnar with a solo shot to right to go back-to-back and make it an 11-4 ballgame, Spence’s sixth home run of the season. Then, Townsend continued his big night with a solo blast to right to cap off an eight run inning for this offense.
Madison would get one back in the bottom of the frame on an RBI-double to make it 12-5, but it was nowhere near enough.
Sam Hojnar and Drew Townsend led the way for Lakeshore. Hojnar and Townsend both went 2-for-3 at the plate and driving in a combined seven RBI.
The Lakeshore Chinooks will be back at Moonlight Graham Field Wednesday night to try and extend the winning streak to four against the Mallards. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CST.
